Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Asian History Carnival
The first Asian History Carnival is up at "Frog in a Well". Jonathan Dresner has done an excellent job, and there are quite a few interesting links worth browsing. Go see!
Jolley on Descartes and Leibniz on the Image of God
I often find myself in disagreement with Nicholas Jolley; nonetheless, he often has excellent insights, and equally excellent formulations of them. The following is an example. He has just finished pointing out (rightly) that in a sense Malebranche's epistemology is chiefly inspired by the prologue to the Gospel of John. He then goes on to contrast Descartes and Leibniz:
The Book of Genesis, rather than St John's Gospel, furnishes the key text for Leibniz and Descartes; they invoke the doctrine that man (i.e. the human mind) is made in the image of God. Edward Craig has shown that the influence f this doctrine was pervasive in seventeenth-century philosophy, but obviously, as it stands, the doctrine is extremely indeterminate; some definite philosophical content must be introduced to fix the shape of the likeness. The choice of content varies from philosopher to philosopher. In the case of Descartes, Craig denies that it is a thesis about knowledge which fixes the shape of the likeness; it is rather a thesis about the nature of the will and its freedom. But this is an unduly restrictive reading of Descartes. In fact, the Genesis text is intimately bound up with Descartes's whole campaign against scholasticism. Much that is imost revolutionary in Descartes's philosophy of mind and knowledge is capture in his insistence on the doctrine that the mind is made in the image of God. As we shall see, the doctrine is even implicit in Descartes's choice of the term 'idea'.
The 'image of God' doctrine permeates much of Descartes's philosophy but it does not dominate it; contrary influences are at work, such as the creation of the eternal truths. In Leibniz's philosophy, by contrast, the Genesis doctrine achieves an almost complete ascendancy; it is pushed further perhaps than ever before....
[Nicholas Jolley, The Light of the Soul (Oxford: Clarendon, 1990) pp. 8-9.]
The references to Craig are to E. Craig's The Mind of God and the Works of Man. It is noteworthy that the Cartesian twist on the image of God has had a long shelf-life in philosophy; one finds even contemporaries appealing to it on occasion (Plantinga in particular comes to mind). As Jolley notes above, this isn't the only way to take it, but it shows how pervasive Cartesian thought is that the Cartesian interpretation keeps returning.
The Book of Genesis, rather than St John's Gospel, furnishes the key text for Leibniz and Descartes; they invoke the doctrine that man (i.e. the human mind) is made in the image of God. Edward Craig has shown that the influence f this doctrine was pervasive in seventeenth-century philosophy, but obviously, as it stands, the doctrine is extremely indeterminate; some definite philosophical content must be introduced to fix the shape of the likeness. The choice of content varies from philosopher to philosopher. In the case of Descartes, Craig denies that it is a thesis about knowledge which fixes the shape of the likeness; it is rather a thesis about the nature of the will and its freedom. But this is an unduly restrictive reading of Descartes. In fact, the Genesis text is intimately bound up with Descartes's whole campaign against scholasticism. Much that is imost revolutionary in Descartes's philosophy of mind and knowledge is capture in his insistence on the doctrine that the mind is made in the image of God. As we shall see, the doctrine is even implicit in Descartes's choice of the term 'idea'.
The 'image of God' doctrine permeates much of Descartes's philosophy but it does not dominate it; contrary influences are at work, such as the creation of the eternal truths. In Leibniz's philosophy, by contrast, the Genesis doctrine achieves an almost complete ascendancy; it is pushed further perhaps than ever before....
[Nicholas Jolley, The Light of the Soul (Oxford: Clarendon, 1990) pp. 8-9.]
The references to Craig are to E. Craig's The Mind of God and the Works of Man. It is noteworthy that the Cartesian twist on the image of God has had a long shelf-life in philosophy; one finds even contemporaries appealing to it on occasion (Plantinga in particular comes to mind). As Jolley notes above, this isn't the only way to take it, but it shows how pervasive Cartesian thought is that the Cartesian interpretation keeps returning.
Monday, October 10, 2005
Carnivals in Blogging
Coturnix of Science and Politics fame participated in ConvergeSouth (a convention on Internet-based creativity) this weekend; he spoke on the concept of blog carnivals. He put together a post on some basic points in his analysis of blog carnivals. Highly recommended for those interested in the subject. (Bora, as I think I've said before, has a history of doing thoughtful meta-level analysis of blogging; this is one more addition to the mix.) Apparently his session went well.
Love Is the Astrolabe of God's Mysteries
This is a useful Rumi site for those who are interested in Islamic mysticism.
We, who are parts of Adam, heard with him
The song of angels and of seraphim.
Our memory, though dull and sad, retains
Some echo still of those unearthly strains.
We, who are parts of Adam, heard with him
The song of angels and of seraphim.
Our memory, though dull and sad, retains
Some echo still of those unearthly strains.
Bits and Bytes
* Discussion of (a)moral themes in Serenity at "speculative catholic"
* A First Things article on Darfur (HT: verbum ipsum).
* Faithful living in the technological society at "verbum ipsum"
* Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton at "We are still here", in a post that fits nicely with Columbus Day (I hadn't realized that the source of the holiday was the Tammany Society).
* Jimmy Akin directs some well-deserved sarcasm at a Times of London story on the Catholic Church (HT: NWW).
* Sharon's Early Modern Resources website is looking gorgeous. Go and browse a bit!
* The Twentieth Philosophers' Carnival is up at "Logic and Language". If you are interested in hosting an edition of the Philosophers' Carnival, read this and talk to Richard.
* A First Things article on Darfur (HT: verbum ipsum).
* Faithful living in the technological society at "verbum ipsum"
* Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton at "We are still here", in a post that fits nicely with Columbus Day (I hadn't realized that the source of the holiday was the Tammany Society).
* Jimmy Akin directs some well-deserved sarcasm at a Times of London story on the Catholic Church (HT: NWW).
* Sharon's Early Modern Resources website is looking gorgeous. Go and browse a bit!
* The Twentieth Philosophers' Carnival is up at "Logic and Language". If you are interested in hosting an edition of the Philosophers' Carnival, read this and talk to Richard.
The Problem with Government
The major problem - one of the major problems, for there are several - one of the many major problems with governing people is that of who you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them.
To summarize: it is a well-known fact, that those people who most want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. To summarize the summary of the summary: people are a problem.
-- Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, ch. 28.
As those who've read the book know, the government of the Universe has solved the problem by making their President a figurehead, and letting all the major decisions be made by someone who doesn't believe the Universe exists.
To summarize: it is a well-known fact, that those people who most want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. To summarize the summary of the summary: people are a problem.
-- Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, ch. 28.
As those who've read the book know, the government of the Universe has solved the problem by making their President a figurehead, and letting all the major decisions be made by someone who doesn't believe the Universe exists.
Haunted by the Past
The newest Carnivalesque (ancient and medieval edition) is up at alun. I especially liked Dissing the Middle Ages at "Creating Text(iles)".
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